still undrafted: marc nadon’s hockey memories

Stephen Harper’s Supreme Court nominee told a parliamentary committee today that he was “drafted” by the Detroit Red Wings at the age of 14 — but the records don’t seem to agree with Federal Court of Appeal judge Marc Nadon.

As first reported on puckstruck.com and picked up on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics with Evan Solomon, Justice Nadon’s hockey memories have been causing confusion late today.

The first NHL amateur draft took place in June of 1963, when Justice Nadon was just 13. The following year Detroit selected Claude Gauthier first over all. While Judge Nadon may have been scouted by the Red Wings. he may have been praised, and even promised big things. But there’s no indication in any hockey reference that a Marc Nadon was ever drafted at any point by any NHL team.

So did Justice Nadon misspeak or, like many of us, just remember his long-gone hockey career as having been more glorious than it actually was?

From Greystone Books. Available in bookstores in Canada and the United States. 2014 Hockey Book of the Year, as per www.hockeybookreviews.com. "Funny, smart, unlike any hockey book I've read," Dave Bidini has said; "Joycean," Charles Foran called it. "It’s rare to find a book that makes me proud to be Canadian," is what Michael Winter wrote: "A funny, myth-busting, life-loving read."

Search for:

follow blog via e-mail

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

archives

poem

Thankful that I never
played against
Wayne Gretzky
in an NHL playoff series;
I probably would have had to break his hand.

I would not have wanted to injure Gretzky, mind you;
I loved the guy.
I never touched him on the ice
in a regular season game.
I had too much respect
for how he played
and how he carried himself.

But I can say without question
I would have tried to hurt him
if we had been matched up
in the playoffs.
In my mind,
there are no friends
in a playoff series

I’m not talking about
elbowing someone in the head
or going after someone’s knees.
I’m talking about a strategic slash.
To me, slashing someone’s hand or breaking someone’s fingers was nothing.
It was part of the game.

Broken hands heal.
Fingers heal.
The pain that comes from losing does not.